Thom & Wilson's 1890 59 West 87th Street

 

Real estate developer Charles Gahren commissioned Thom & Wilson to design a row of five-story flats on the northeast corner of Ninth Avenue (later renamed Columbus Avenue) and 87th Street in 1889.  They were completed in 1890, a successful blend of Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival styles.  The easternmost building, 59 West 87th Street, stood out from the row, with a full-height, three-sided bay.  The lower two floors were faced in brownstone, its impressive arched entrance sitting above a short stoop.  Purely Romanesque Revival in style, clustered colonnettes supported the intricately carved layered arch.  The spandrels and entablature were filled with equally elaborate medieval inspired carvings.

For the upper four floors, Thom & Wilson turned to the Renaissance, their reserved decoration relying on honeycomb brick panels; creative, scale-like brickwork between the central panel between the fourth and fifth floors; and brownstone courses.

There were two apartments per floor, front and back.  An advertisement described, "Extra large apartments, 26 x 90; seven rooms, bath; butler's pantry, and private hall."  

Among the initial residents was Benjamin Graham, who suffered a terrifying ordeal on January 2, 1895.  Decades before the advent of efficient snow removal, carriages gave way to sleighs on city streets after snowfalls.  That afternoon, the banker was riding in a sleigh driven by a colleague, John Quinn, along 120th Street when the horse panicked and galloped wildly.  The New York World reported that Mounted Policeman Andrews saw the runaway and, "noticed that the bit had broken and the headstall had fallen off.  How to stop the animal was a puzzler to Andrews, but only for a moment."

The alarmed men could only hold on as the horse took them on the frightening ride.  Then, astoundingly, Andrews "got his horse into the roadway, held the reins in his teeth and as the sorrel dashed by he reached over and seized him by the windpipe."  The horses ran side-by-side and into Central Park with the policeman continuing to keep a grip on the runaway's throat.

The World reported, "Scores of sleighs, carriages and rigs of every description were on the drive, but the shouts of the onlookers warned their drivers in advance and they pulled aside."  Eventually, Andrew's tactic worked and the runaway horse, unable to breathe, fell to its knees, gasping for air.  Graham and Quinn, "jumped out and shook hands with Andrews, thanking him expressively for saving them from possible death," said the article.

George Obermeyer, his wife and their four-year-old son, were also early residents.  Born in 1856, Obermeyer was a partner of the dye manufacturing firm Charles Fischer & Co.  In December 1902, he went to the tax office downtown and complained that he had been over assessed for personal property.  The New York Times reported, "on the strength of his affidavit," he was taxed on a revised personal worth of $2,400.  (The original figure was $5,000.)  The article added, "The Tax Commissioners thought nothing of the circumstance."

George Obermeyer's guilty conscience did, however, think about the circumstance.  Over the next week or so, he suffered with "nervous prostration," according to his doctor.  His condition became so bad that a nurse was called in.

Finally, on January 28, 1903, Obermeyer returned to the tax office with his attorney.  He confessed that he had "inadvertently" made incorrect statements.  "He should be taxed on $38,000, he said, instead of on $2,400," reported The New York Times.  It was a significant difference--his revised personal worth would equal $1.4 million today, as compared with the former $88,300.

Despite rectifying his attempted transgression, the shame of his actions haunted Obermeyer.  Early on the morning of January 30, while his nurse was sleeping, he disconnected the rubber tube from a reading lamp and inserted the end into his mouth.  He died from inhaling the gas.

Another tragic resident was Pauline Drastler.  Following the death of her husband, Dr. Franz Drastler, she moved into an apartment here with her daughter and son-in-law, Adolph Amend.  The daughter died in 1904 and Pauline and Amend continued to share the apartment, The New York Press saying, that he lavishes "on Mrs. Drastler, friends, say, every attention he could to make her happy."

But Pauline Drastler's world was turned upside down when Adolph Amend remarried in February 1910 and moved with his bride to Gramercy Park.  Not only did the marriage disturb Pauline (The New York Times said it "seems to have grieved Mrs. Drastler"), the lease, which was in Amend's name, was due to expire on August 1.  The upheaval in her life was too much for the 62-year old to bear.

At 9:00 a.m. on August 1, the day Pauline Drastler was scheduled to move out, the janitress, Mrs. Johnson, noticed the apartment door was ajar.  She looked inside and noticed that all Pauline's things were packed up, but she also smelled gas.  The New York Times remarked, "Tracing this, she found Mrs. Drastler lying on the bed in an inner room in the seven-room apartment, lifeless."

In the meantime, Adolph Amend received a letter from Pauline, telling him that she intended to commit suicide.  The New York Press said, "Amend received it too late to interfere to save her life."  The newspaper titled the article, "Dies Rather Than Move From Home She Had Loved."

By the first decade of the 20th century, architect William Burnet Tuthill, his wife, the former Henrietta Elizabeth Corwin, and their son, Burnet Corwin, occupied an apartment here.  The family maintained a country home in Newburgh, New York.  Born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1855, Tuthill trained in the office of Richard Morris Hunt before opening his own office in 1878.  A founder of the Architectural League of New York, he served on the Art Commission of the Chicago Columbia Exposition in 1893.  Perhaps his most notable design was the 1891 Carnegie Hall.  

The year 1917 would bring Tuthill great joy and crippling grief.  On January 2, the New York Herald reported that Burnet was married the previous day to Helen Hersey in Denver, Colorado.  Just two months later, on March 11, Henrietta died in the West 87th Street apartment at the age of 65.

(Burnet Corwin Tuthill, incidentally, became a well-known conductor and composer, co-founding the National Association of Schools of Music and organizing the the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, of which he was its first conductor.)

William Burnet Tuthill became ill in July 1929.  He died at the Newburgh home at the age of 74 on August 26 that year.

In the meantime, Fire Chief John Kenlon and his wife, the former Kathryn Fitzgerald, lived here as early as 1918.  Born in 1859, Kenlon went to sea as a "ship's boy" in 1873 on the coal schooner Gazelle.  He sailed for 14 years, eventually becoming the captain of the yacht of a millionaire.  His employer offered to get him a post in the Fire Department when plans for a southern cruise were cancelled.

Kenlon was appointed chief in 1911.  The New York Times would later remark, "He saw fire fighting as a science rather than a romantic game.  He established and became first president of the Fire College."  In 1922 he pushed for a law requiring gas cut-offs outside houses as a safety measure.

Kenlon retired in 1931 holding the longest tenure in the department's history.  He and Kathryn moved to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where he died on May 30, 1940.

Like the Kenlons, Stephen McFarland, founder of the Central Cigar Company, had lived at 59 West 87th Street as early as 1918.  Born in Ireland on August 12, 1853, he came to New York at the age of 28.  The immigrant firebrand immediately involved himself with Irish Independence.  He became active in the Irish Land League and was a contributor to causes promoting Irish freedom.  Through his activities, he became well acquainted with Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish leader.  McFarland was, as well, a member of the Irish-American Historical Society, the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom, the Tammany Society, the Holy Name Society and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

He and his wife, Mary, had four sons, Joseph, John, Myles and Stephen; and a daughter Anna.  An ardent Democrat and a member of the general committee of Tammany Hall, McFarland was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1884, 1888, 1892 and 1896.  

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

Stephen McFarland died in the apartment on October 28, 1929.  Still living with his parents was Joseph.  All the other children were married by then.  Stephen McFarland's concern about his son's bachelorhood was clearly reflected in his will.  On November 5, The New York Times titled an article, "Must Wed To Get Father's Legacy."  It went on to explain that Joseph's portion of the estate would be held in trust.  The funds would be paid to him, "if and when he gets married."

The nation's attention was directed to 59 West 87th Street in 1938.  Dr. Ignatz T. Griebl and his wife, Maria, immigrated to America from Munich in 1924.  He established an obstetrics practice here.  But as the Nazi movement grew in power in Germany, Griebel became the head of a spy network.  He joined the U. S. Army Reserves, recruiting spies among young German-Americans.

On June 8, 1938, Federal officials arrived at 59 West 87th Street to arrest Griebl, but found him gone.  The New York Evening Post reported that Maria Griebl was arrested "after admitting she had planned to take the 'first boat' out of the country."  The article said that she, "admitted having sent a trunk of his effects to him in Germany since he arrived there and that she also planned to send his automobile to him--evidence that he does not intend to return to this country."

As the war drew to an end, Dr. Ignatz Griebl was recognized while applying for a travel permit from the Allied Military Government on August 19, 1945.  Once again he escaped.  He remained a fugitive under indictment for espionage until March 14, 1950, when the U.S. Government dropped the case.

At time when sprawling 19th century apartments were being split up to multiple units, a renovation to 59 West 87th Street went the opposite way.  In 1996, the two apartments per floor were combined to one, resulting in a total of five apartments in the building today.

photographs by the author

The Lost Howard's Hotel - 176 Broadway

 

Print around 1845 by Charles Parsons, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

In 1839, a year after John Jacob Astor I opened his luxurious Astor House hotel, brothers Daniel D. Howard and John P. Howard broke ground for another upscale hotel, just three blocks to the south at Broadway and Maiden Lane.  Detractors quickly anticipated doom.  The New-York Tribune noted six years later:

When that spacious hotel was in progress of erection, a general doubt was expressed of its being adequately supported, as no hotel on that side of Broadway had ever succeeded.  And the immense outlay to build up the establishment, (it costing, we believe, more than a quarter of a million of dollars), also had its weight in casting doubt of its success.

Now, on October 1, 1844, the editors of the New-York Tribune smugly reported, "But knowing the men, their origin, education, &c., we never doubted."

Known as Howard's Hotel (it would be more commonly referred to as Howard Hotel), it opened in March 1840.  The construction costs (exclusive of the furnishings, carpeting, and such) reported by the New-York Tribune would translate to a staggering $8.7 million in 2025.  The Howards' architect drew greatly from the Greek Revival designs of the commercial buildings in the district, with heavy granite piers along the ground floor.  The upper stories were faced in red brick.  The squat sixth (or attic) floor, typical of the Greek Revival style, would have been reserved for servants.

Among the first guests was the Reverend Dr. Henry Scadding of Canada.  He wrote in his diary on May 28, 1840, "The city very imposing.  Broadway thronged and full of omnibuses.  One might easily fancy himself in the heart of London.  Walked to the Post Office.  Put up at Howard's Hotel, Broadway--a clean, new, elegant house."

Reminisces of a Hotel Man, 1912 (copyright expired)

The Evening Post agreed with Rev. Scadding's appraisal.  On July 15, 1840, it described Howard's Hotel as being, "amply provided with every means for accommodating a large number of guests.  The house is well arranged, well furnished, and well kept--the proprietor having had long experience in the business, with a strong disposition to contribute to the comfort of all who have put themselves under his care."

In his 1912 Reminiscences of a Hotel Man, Henry S. Mower wrote, "The hotel was a success from the start and divided the honors with The Astor."

Like all hotels, Howard's included commercial spaces for the convenience of both the guests and the public.  On August 5, 1840, William M. Decamp announced that he had opened his men's hat store.  Speaking of himself in the third person, Decamp boasted, "Gentlemen can be furnished with a most splendid article of either Beaver, Silk, Moleskin, or Leghorn...he hesitates not to compare with any to be had in the city.  Also on hand, fine Panama Hats."  Nine months later, on June 22, 1841, George Welsell announced his "new and splendid hair dressing saloon."  His "American, English and French assistants" were on hand to "make it a superior resort for gentlemen of all nations, as well as citizens, who may require their hair cut or dressed."

The Howard's Hotel vied with the Astor House for esteemed guests.  On March 18, 1841, for instance, The Evening Post reported, "John J. Crittenden, Attorney General of the United States, has arrived in this city, and stops at the Howard Hotel."

Crittenden would be among the last of the eminent guests under the Howard brothers' care.  On October 1, 1841, the New York Express reported, "This house, it is said, will change hands after the 1st of January next, Messrs. D. & J. Howard having disposed of their interest in the establishment and all the furniture to Capt. Stephen Roe, of the steamboat Empire, and Mr. Thomas, formerly of the firm of Thomas & Marvin, United States Hotel, Saratoga."  The article said, "The price we have heard named is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,600." 

As a term of the sale, the Howards were not allowed to open a new hotel in New York City for three years.  The editors of the New-York Tribune "were surprised" to hear of the news, saying, "They have been most popular and successful hosts, and will carry into their retirement the respect and good wishes of thousands."

Thomas and Roe hosted U.S. President John Tyler in June 1843.  On June 15, the Troy Daily Whig reported, "A crowd of people assembled this morning in front of Howard's Hotel to get sight of the President and his Cabinet on their route to the ships of war in the harbor."  

The President's visit a year later would be cloaked in secrecy.  John Tyler had been widowed for two years and he and his staff had taken every precaution to keep this visit confidential.  The hotel staff had been ordered not to talk and "all the servants locked up" to keep them quiet.  On the morning of June 26, 1844, Tyler left the hotel for his wedding to Julia Gardiner in the Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue.   

The secrecy had nothing to do with security.  The fact that Julia was 30 years younger than the 54-year-old President had already caused a minor scandal in Washington social circles.

Although they had purchased the furnishings, Thomas and Roe redecorated, advertising in March 4, 1845, "It has been put in the most thorough and complete repair, painted and refitted."  The 1846 Great Metropolis said the furniture cost $35,000 (about $1.48 million today) and described Howard's Hotel as having 140 rooms with a dining room "35 by 65 feet."  

Henry S. Mower was hired "to have charge of the office" here in June 1857.  He recalled in 1912:

No doubt the table in its abundant and perfect school of cooking, the best material the country offered, was a kindly solace to its patrons, and in the long after years when its doors were closed, in meeting anyone of them the same exclamation followed, "we have never found such a home as the old Howard.

No doubt, the co-ownership of the steamboat captain Stephen Roe influenced many naval and private sailing figures to stay here.  On December 10, 1860, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Capt. Lewis Parish and lady, and Purser J. N. Smith, of the steamship Yorktown, also Purser J. H. Woodcock, of the steamship Jamestown, are at the Howard Hotel."  And 12 days later, the newspaper reported, "Capt. E. A. Hussy, of the ship Escort, and C. W. Abbott, of the United States Navy, are at the Howard Hotel."

Henry S. Mower recalled, "At the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, all the hotels experienced a change in the character of their business."  Several Union officers stayed at Howard's Hotel as they passed through the city.  On July 25, 1862, for instance, The New York Times reported, "Brig. Gen. D. E. Sickles arrived in town last evening from the seat of war.  The General was met at the ferry by a few friends.  He is stopping at the Howard Hotel."

Because of the war, said Mower, the price rose from $2 to $3 per day.  He added, "All provisions rose rapidly in price, as well as the wages of hotel employes [sic], colored waiters that had been receiving $12 per month now got $20, and later $25."

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, December 17, 1864 (copyright expired)

Among those Black employees was waiter Charles Jackson.  On July 12, 1863, he left the hotel heading to Pier No. 3 on the Hudson River.  It was a dangerous time for Black citizens to be on the streets.  The previous day, the nation's first attempt at a military draft was held as a lottery.  But the wealthy had purchased exemptions to circumvent the draft.  The result was the Draft Riots—a three-day reign of terror and carnage unlike anything seen in the country before.  Innocent people--mostly Black--were murdered.  Draft offices, newspaper buildings, and the homes of Blacks were burned. 

The New York Times reported that Jackson "was attacked in one of the streets leading from Broadway to the North River [i.e., the Hudson], by a crowd of roughs."  Jackson was "knocked senseless by some one, he knew not whom, and he recollected nothing further until he found himself crawling out of the water under Pier No. 4."  Jackson, although injured, was fortunate.  After being beaten and robbed, he had been thrown off the pier "where he was supposed to be drowned," said the newspaper.

On November 22, 1864, S. M. Harner checked into Howard's Hotel.  He was given a room on the fourth floor.  Three days later, at 3:30 a.m., according to The New York Times, "the night watchman discovered that an attempt had been made to set fire to the room occupied by Harner.  The bed-clothing had been saturated with inflammable material, phosphorus had been used, and the furniture was all piled upon the bed."  The ruse had been foiled here, but that was not the case in some hotels throughout the city.  

Harner was a member of the Confederate Army of Manhattan, a group of eight Southerners intent to burn New York City.  They started fires in 19 hotels, a theater and P. T. Barnum's American Museum.  Happily, most of the fires were quickly extinguished by hotel employees and guests, or, like the Howard's Hotel attempt, failed.

By the end of the war, Howard's Hotel was being replaced with more modern and fashionable hotels further uptown.  A two-day auction, on April 24 and 25, 1868, liquidated everything from the "furniture, wines, liquors," to the "steam boiler and pipes."  Among the items listed by auctioneer Henry H. Leeds were "Brussels and Axminister carpets" and "pier and mantel French plate mirrors."

The hotel was converted to an office building, home mostly to real estate agents like W. A. Corbiere & Co., J. A. Kenyon & Son, and E. A. Cruikshank & Co.  The building survived until 1898. It was replaced by the Howells & Stokes-designed Title Guarantee & Trust Building at 176 and 178, and the ten-story Cushman Building next door at 174 Broadway.

The Cushman Building sits to the right of the Title Guarantee & Trust Building.  image by Irving Underhill from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The Prison Association of N.Y. Building - 135 East 15th Street

 

The family of Ebenezer Doughty most likely leased the upscale house at 185 East 15th Street (renumbered 135 in 1868) in 1853.  Doughty had retired from his position as an inspector at the Customhouse.  Living with him and his wife were their adult sons, Edward and Charles A.

The four-story, three-bay wide home was typical of the Greek Revival style.  Its double-doored entrance was flanked by sturdy brownstone pilasters that upheld a substantial entablature.  The house would have originally had an understated cornice.  A superb cast iron railing swept down the stoop to encircle the newels.

In 1854, the family of tea merchant Theodore Crane moved in.  As was common, the Cranes took in a boarder.  In 1854 it was Charles E. Groesbeeck, and in 1856 Augustus Morand lived with the family.  

Augustus Morand, The Photographic Art-Journal, 1851 (copyright expired)

Augustus Morand listed his profession as "artist," however he was taking artistic license in saying so.  Born in New York City in 1818, he was a pioneer in the photographic field.  When living with the Cranes, he had been creating daguerreotypes for about a decade.  He would become well-known as a portrait photographer.  Perhaps his most celebrated client would be Frederick Douglass, whom he photographed on May 15, 1863.

The Cranes were followed in the house by Herman Joseph Aloysius Koerner, Ph.D.  Dr. Koerner was an artist and Professor of Drawing at the Free Academy of New York.  The Koerners were involved in the German community within the district.  On April 18, 1862, for instance, The Sun reported, "The ladies of the 18th Ward assembled yesterday noon at the residence of Miss Koerner, 185 East 15th street, and adopted preliminary measures for the organization of a Ladies Aid Society...in behalf of the German Hospital project."

Beginning around 1864, Margaret Andrews operated the residence as an upscale boarding house.  She accepted only a handful of boarders.  In 1872, Clarinda A. Witherstine took over the operation.  The widow of Gaylord Witherstine, she seems to have sought out teachers as her residents.  

On November 10, 1872, an advertisement in the New York Herald read, "Miss F. A. Millspaugh would like a few more pupils for the Pianoforte at her own residence, 135 East Fifteenth street, or at that of the pupil."  Florence A. Millspaugh would board here through 1879.  Other boarders in the house that year were teachers Genevieve Baker and Maria L. Clawson.

The house was sold in foreclosure in October 1879, and underwent a rapid turnover of owners until Cornelius B. Gold sold the property to the Prison Association of New York in 1887.  On June 9, The New York Times reported that "through the generosity of some of its friends," the Prison Association "has been able to buy the house 135 East Fifteenth-street, where its offices will be in the future.  The same building will contain the offices of the National Prison Association of the United States and of the Burnham Industrial Farm."

Incorporated in 1846, the association worked to improve conditions of prisoners, and to reform discharged convicts.  It lobbied for reformatory laws regarding indeterminate sentences, probation and parole.  Additionally, the association worked to help the families of incarcerated men, now faced with no income.

On October 10, 1897, the New York Journal reported, "A very novel exhibition has been given at No. 135 East Fifteenth street the last three days."  The artworks were the work of prisoners in "Sing Sing, Auburn and Clinton prisons, but also from the Elmira Reformatory and the Mattawan Asylum for the Criminal Insane."  In addition to drawings, there were "fine plaster casts" made by a young Italian convict, an architect, and wood carvings.  (The article said it would not reveal the architect's name, "for on his release he intends to go back to his old position, and to begin life over again as an honest man."

The Prison Association of New York hired the architectural firm of Stoughton & Stoughton in June 1910 to remodel the interiors.  The first floor now held the parole bureau, the library, and a waiting room for released convicts.  Clerical staff--the chief parole agent, and the assistant parole agent, for example--were now housed on the second floor.  A new cornice with a triangular pediment was installed.

The association also published The Delinquent from the house.  The monthly periodical printed articles like, "Domestic Relations, Courts and Divorce," and "Some Factors in Prison Reform," which appeared in the February 1917 issue.

Especially at Christmas time, the families of convicts were remembered by the association.  General Secretary E. R. Cass wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times on November 30, 1923 that read:

Mothers and children come to us every day in great sorrow and distress, through no fault of their own.  For the children of men in prison we hope, through the help of your interested readers, to have a Christmas tree and toys at 135 East Fifteenth Street.  Dolls for the girls and toys and games for the boys will be appreciated and will help to bring cheer and sunshine to these children.

In 1961, the Prison Association of New York changed its name to the Correctional Association of New York.  A renovation completed in 1971 resulted in a superintendent's apartment in the basement, and offices throughout the upper floors.  

North Star Fund, created in 1979, acquired the former house in 1983.  The organization raises funds and makes grants "for racial, gender and economic justice," according to its website.  In 1984, it made renovations to the building and it was most likely at this time that the former parlor floor windows were replaced with grouped openings under a single lintel, which the architect carefully coordinated with the entrance entablature.  It was also possible that during this renovation the cornice pediment was removed.

The former Ebenezer Doughty house was restored to a single family residence in 2012.  Described by a realtor in 2017 as a "stunning, 25-foot elevator home," there are now eight bedrooms within the home.

photographs by the author

The Edward N. Ebbets House - 36 East Third Street

 

Speaking in the third person, on May 6, 1812 E. A. Le Breton placed an announcement in The Evening Post saying that "he intends to recommence Brewing early in the fall, when he hopes to share that patronage which he has experienced many years.  He has now for sale a quantity of very fine ALE, in hhds. [i.e., hogsheads] fit for immediate use.--Enquire ONLY at 36 Third-street."  It is unclear how long Le Breton's alehouse survived, but the building was gone before the mid-1830s.  

In 1835, Hubbard & Casey’s hardware business at 48-1/2 Exchange Place was apparently doing very well.  Described by the Journal of the American Institute as dealers in "grass sithes, corn sithes, and augurs,” that year the partners branched out into real estate development.

 
In 1835, Hubbard & Casey began construction of five matching brick-faced residences that stretched from 30 to 38 Third Street (the "East" would come later).  Completed in 1836, they were built for financially-comfortable, merchant class families.  Three stories high over English basements, they were designed in the up-to-date Greek Revival style.  Heavy brownstone doorway enframements, Flemish bond brickwork and handsome iron fencing (that featured a Greek key band along the bottom and graceful palmettes along the top) dignified the structures.
 
No. 36 became the home of the Edward N. Ebbets family.  Ebbets ran a dry goods business.  By 1840, he changed his profession to accountant in the New York State Bank and added real estate to his resume two years later.  On March 24, 1842, for instance, he advertised,

To Let--The two story Brick House and Store No. 347 Pearl-street (Franklin Square).  The Store can be altered into two Stores.  It is a good stand for any kind of business.

Also, the two story Brick House and Store No. 568 Greenwich-street, between Charlton and King-streets.  

Inquire of Edward N. Ebbits [sic], no. 36 Third-street from 4 to 8 o'clock P.M.

Impoverished families in the first decades of the 19th century could be sent to the Alms-House if they were unable to pay their debts.  Children of those families were routinely sent out as indentured servants.  In 1838, Ebbets and his wife took in six-year-old Margaret Jackson.  A representative of the Alms-House made a house check in the spring of 1842 and reported,

Margaret Jackson, bound to Edward N. Ebbets, No. 36 3d street, April 6, 1842, with him 4 years, now 10 years, gets on very well.

Starting around 1850, Asher C. and Rachael S. Havens moved in.  Havens was a commission merchant with an office on Albany Street.  Boarding with them was Henry P. Gengembre, an artist.

Western Horticultural Advertiser, January 1851 (copyright expired)

Sadly, the youngest child of Asher and Rachel, Adeline Amanda, died on December 11, 1851.  Her funeral was held in the parlor the following afternoon.

The house saw a relatively quick turnover in residents.  In 1858 and '59, John Henry Anderson, a carpet merchant, lived here; and by 1861 Albert Jousseaum Delatour moved his family in.

Delatour was born on October 24, 1824.  He married Josephine Labatut on October 23, 1849 and the couple had four sons and three daughters.  Albert was in the mineral waters business, with locations on Wall Street and Fifth Avenue.  Additionally, he served as vice president of the New York Fire Department.

The Delatours were supplanted in 1867 by Frank Hardy and his family.  The following year, Francis H. Hardy, who had been living on Second Avenue, moved in as well.  Both men were in the dry goods business, Frank at 307 Grand Street and Francis at 332 Bowery.

The Hardy family remained through 1871, after which 36 East 3rd Street was operated as a German boarding house by August Lindemann.  Living here in 1873 were Sigmond Frudenberg, a clerk; Carsten Hencken, owner of a saloon on Fulton Street; and Carl F. Holterman, who dealt in butter in the Washington Market.

In 1886, the house was given a modern facelift.  Although the handsome Greek Revival-style fence was spared, the rest of the house, including the stoop railings, was done over in the trendy Queen Anne style.

The once-simple door enframement suddenly gushed with decoration and new oak doors were installed.  The peaked pediment over the doorway was copied in the parlor window lintels.  Tiny scrolled brackets were applied below the brownstone sills of the upper windows, and decorative lintels, matching the parlor level (without the pediments), were added.  The plain cornice was replaced with an ambitious bracketed affair with a sunburst pediment more expected in a retail building than a residence.
 

Among the residents that year was Isaac Wiltz.  He owned and operated a German restaurant at 351 Bowery and also manufactured and sold oleomargarine.  The foodstuff originated in France when Emperor Napoleon III offered a reward for a butter substitute that could be used by the military and the lower classes.  Developed by chemist Hippolyte Mege-Mouries, oleomargarine was first commercially produced in 1871.  Isaac Wiltz was no doubt among the first to market the new product in New York City.

Andrew Murphy, a truck driver, and his family boarded here in 1890.  On the evening of June 29, Murphy's son was hit in the head by a baseball thrown by a boy named Moorhead.  "Andrew Murphy called Moorhead's father to account, and the fathers then took to fighting," reported The New York Times.  The two battled on the sidewalk in front of 36 East Third Street.  Suddenly, Moorhead stabbed Murphy in the stomach and ran away.  Later that night, Murphy's condition was listed as critical.

By 1895, John C. Felton owned 36 East Third Street and his wife continued to run it as a boarding house.  That year Gerhard G. Classen moved in.  He was a salesman of lubricating oil, "and had several brewers among his customers," according to The New York Times.  He had immigrated from Gdańsk in 1873 when he was 27 years old.  According to Mrs. Felten, he had been very successful "and had an income of $10,000 a year."  (The figure would translate to about $390,000 in 2025.)

Then Classen experienced what newspapers routinely called a "reversal."  He lost his job and ran out of money in 1897.  The Times said, "Mrs. Felten kept him all of last Winter and during the Summer, although he could not pay her, and he borrowed money of all his acquaintances."  Desperate, early on the morning of September 22, 1898, the 52-year-old went to the train station in Hoboken.  When the 6:45 passenger train pulled into the station, Classen threw himself in front of the locomotive and was killed instantly.

John C. Felton sold the house to a "M. Strauss" in January 1902.  One tenant, Frank Rusch, became a hero on March 14, 1914.  A firefighter, he responded to a terrifying blaze in a four-story boarding house at 63 East Houston Street.  Frank Rusch was among the first firefighters to arrive and was responsible for leading no fewer than eight residents to safety.  The house was, according to The New York Times, “one of the oldest buildings in that section of the city, and was said to have been built nearly a century ago.  Some years ago this house was known as the ‘Morgue,’ because of the frequent deaths that occurred in a saloon conducted there.”

Prohibition created opportunities for gangsters like 33-year-old Giuseppe Pizzarello, who lived here as early as 1929.  He was described by The New York Times that year as "long known as a gunman and bootlegger."  While gangsters could make fortunes, they also lived in constant danger.  Giuseppe Pizzarello, according to police, "had incurred the enmity of rivals."  On July 20, 1929, a barn in Huntington, Long Island burned to the ground.  Inside the ruins was the body of Guiseppe Pizzarello.  The only means of identifying him were "a few of the finger tips [that] could be discerned," according to police.  He was identified only after two detectives exhaustedly examined 8,000 fingerprint cards.

In 1970, the building was renovated to a two-family residence--a basement apartment and a triplex on the main levels.  Today nothing remains of the 1835 interiors.  Outside, however, little has changed since the Greek Revival house put on a Queen Anne dress towards the end of the 19^th century. 

photographs by Alice Lum

The William E. Parsons House - 86 Christopher Street

 

Samuel Whittemore operated a factory in Greenwich Village in the early decades of the 19th century, making machinery for the textile industry.  He was a politician as well, serving as State Assemblyman in 1816.  Whittemore owned substantial property in the district.  In 1830, the year he became the president of the newly-formed Greenwich Bank, the family moved into a lavish mansion at 45 Grove Street.  At the time, the house and its outbuildings sat alone on the block.  The Whittemores' stable was accessed on Christopher Street.

Six years later, Samuel Whittemore erected two two-and-a-half-story houses on the south side of Christopher Street between Bleecker and West 4th Streets (Seventh Avenue would not appear until 1917).  Originally identical, they were faced in Flemish bond brick.  Three bays wide, two dormers would have pierced their peaked roofs.  The houses straddled the Federal and Greek Revival styles.  The anthemion motif of the ironwork was important to both styles, however the substantial fluted columns and carved entablatures of the handsome entranceways anticipated the "pure Greek" of the rising latter style. 

Whittemore most likely rented 86 Christopher Street initially.  Sharing the house in 1836 were Jane Hyslop, a teacher; and Dr. T. Marselis.  In the early 1840s, auctioneer Andrew C. Tuttle and his family occupied the house.

It was offered for sale in April 1843 and became home to the William Sullivan family by 1847.  That year Sullivan was part of the "committee of arrangements" for "The First Ball of the La Fayette Guards."  Sullivan was a member of the First Company of the New York State Artillery.  After the militia unit was made part of the escort for Marquis de Lafayette during his visit in 1824, the marquis dubbed the group, "the Lafayette Guards."

As early as 1849, Dr. William Ezra Parsons owned 86 Christopher Street.  Born in Massachusetts in 1813, he and his wife, the former Catharine Louisa Sweeny, had three children, Reuben, William Jr., and Mary Louise--8, 3 and 2 years old respectively in 1849.  Three other children, Emily, Francis H.  and Josephine would come in 1853, 1855 and 1856.  (Francis would die shortly after birth.)

Boarding with the family in 1849 and 1850 was a widow, Elizabeth Alexander Pouder.  Born in England in 1804, her husband, George Washington Pouder, died in Baltimore in 1830 at the age of 37.

Parsons opened his dental office in the basement level.  He would take care of the teeth of Greenwich Village residents for years to come.

American Advertiser, 1850 (copyright expired)

In 1857, 16-year-old Rueben Parsons was working as a clerk.  Three years later, the teen listed his profession as real estate and had moved out of the Christopher Street house to 25 East 24th Street.  

Catherine Louisa Parsons died at the family's summer home in Pound Ridge, New York on May 7, 1890 at the age of 68.  Parsons, now 77 years old, almost immediately left New York to live in the Pound Ridge house year-round.  He, additionally, almost immediately found a new wife.  He and Margaret Strange Kellogg were married before the end of the year.

On March 14, 1891, the Record & Guide reported that Parsons had leased 86 Christopher Street to Jeremiah Rogers for five years at $600 per year.  (The yearly rent would translate to about $21,300 in 2025.)

William Ezra Parsons transferred title of the Christopher Street house to Margaret.  In February 1893, she transferred it to her 21-year-old daughter, Jessie Kellogg Parsons, from a previous marriage.  (William had adopted his step-daughter, by then.)

The year 1897 would be grief-ridden for Margaret Parsons.  William died on April 11 at the age of 84 and Jessie died six months later on November 2 at the age of 25.

The 1836 Federal-style ironwork with its anthemion finials survives.

In January 1903, the trustees of Jessie K. Parsons's estate sold 86 Christopher Street to Georgianna M. Tucker for $5,000 (about $184,000 today).  The anachronistic relic was apparently operated as a rooming house for the next few years.  Living here in 1918 was the Casey family.  They received terrifying news on December 12, 1918 when the War Department listed their son, William J. Casey, missing in action in Europe.

The changing times within the Greenwich Village neighborhood caught up to 86 Christopher Street in the fall of 1926.  On September 24, the New York Evening Post reported that James Nicolini had purchased the property saying, "The buyer will alter the house."  While preserving the vintage ironwork, the stoop, and other exterior elements of the lower floors, Nicolini's architect raised the attic to a full story.  A studio window, popular in Greenwich Village renovations at the time, flooded the top floor with northern light.

The original peaked roofline can be seen from the side in this 1941 photograph.  The owner has added cast lions to the brownstone newels.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

The top floor studio was home to painter Vincent Canadé in the 1930s, according to the Landmark Preservation Commission's 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District designation report.  Born in Italy in 1879, he and his wife, Josephine Picciulo, had six children.  Canadé's work is today exhibited in the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Phillips Collection as well as more than 20 other institutions.

Poet Charles John Olson moved into 86 Christopher Street with Constance Wilcox, known as Connie, in October 1940.  Their relationship was described at the time as a "common-law marriage."  Describing Olson in the Washington Post on April 14, 1991, Bradford Morrow said he was a "key figure" in transitioning American poetry from modernism to postmodernism.

Charles Olson, from Britannica.com

A month after moving into 86 Christopher Street, according to George F. Butterick's A Guide to the Maximus Poems of Charles Ols0n, Olson began working as the publicity director for the American Civil Liberties Union.  In November that year, he took the position of chief of the Foreign Language Information Service, Common Council for American Unity.

A renovation in 1974 resulted in one apartment per floor.  The basement apartment was converted to a store in 1989.  It was home to Exotiqua in the early 1990s, described by Newsday in August 1992 as a "decorative object gallery," carrying merchandise from 20 countries.

Despite some alterations (most significantly the raising of the attic), 86 Christopher Street is a remarkable survivor of the first phase of development in this Greenwich Village neighborhood.

photographs by the author

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post.

The Margaret Delprat Remsen Mansion - 3 East 80th Street

 

William W. Hall erected lavish speculative mansions on the Upper East and West Sides in the 1890s and early 1900s.  He often commissioned the architectural firm of Welch, Smith & Provot to design his homes.  Such was the case in 1898 when he hired the firm to design a sumptuous double-wide mansion at 3 East 80th Street, just steps from Fifth Avenue.  Alexander Welch took the reins, designing the five-story residence in a dignified take on the French Beaux Arts style.

Foregoing the foliate swags and architectural confections often associated with the style, Welch created a refined design.  The offset entrance above a short stoop sat within a rusticated limestone base.  The three-story midsection, faced in gray brick and trimmed in limestone, was dominated by a three-sided stone oriel capped with a balustrade.  Welch faced the fifth floor with stone and crowned the wreathed-bracketed cornice with a row of copper anthemions.

The American Architect and Building News, September 1, 1900 (copyright expired)

On January 18, 1896, two years before Hall broke ground for 3 East 80th Street, Robert George Remsen died in his brownstone residence at 87 Fifth Avenue, just north of 16th Street.  One of the founders of the "Patriarchs," he and his wife, the former Margaret Delprat, were among the original New York 400--Manhattan's highest social clique.  At the time of Remsen's death, their once exclusive neighborhood was being invaded by commerce.

Margaret Delprat Remsen purchased 3 East 80th Street.  She and Robert had four daughters, Margaret Sophia, Georgiana Delprat, Frances, and Caroline.  Only Margaret, who was known as Maizie or May, was unmarried.  She moved into the new mansion with her mother.

The two women spent the warm months at their country residence in Connecticut.  On November 11, 1902, The New York Times updated its readers, "Mrs. Robert G. Remsen and Miss Remsen are in town for the Winter at their residence, 3 East Eightieth Street.  They were in New London, as usual, this Summer."

The women were given a fright on the evening of April 18, 1906.  A workman was hired to paint the servants' rooms on the top floor.  When he went home that afternoon, he left behind a burning cigar.  By 7:00, the draperies had caught fire.  May Remsen went into crisis mode.  The New York Times reported that she "sent the butler to turn in an alarm, and then organized the servants into a bucket brigade."  Despite their heroic efforts, it was not enough.  By the time the firefighters arrived, "the fire was gaining headway rapidly," said the article.  It took them half an hour to extinguish the blaze.  The New York Times reported, "The upper floor of the house was wrecked.  The loss is $3,000."  (The damages would translate to about $108,000 in 2025.)

The frightening chaos was almost too much for Margaret Remsen to bear.  The Times said she became "very much excited during the fire," and was taken next door to the Frank W. Woolworth mansion "where she was cared for."

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

The butler whom May sent for help was John Smith.  He had been with the family since 1887, when he was 17 years old.  While many butlers lived with their employers, Smith lived with his wife and two children at 301 East 83rd Street at the corner of Second Avenue.  The faithful servant caught a cold in the winter of 1916.  It worsened to pneumonia and he died on March 29, just short of having served the family for three decades.

On Christmas Eve 1919, May hosted a debutante dance and supper at Delmonico's for Sylvia Remsen Hillhouse.  Sylvia was the daughter of May's sister, Georgiana and her husband Charles Betts Hillhouse.  The New York Herald reported, "Miss Remsen, Mrs. Hillhouse and her daughter received the guests, numbering about 250 of the younger set."  

Margaret Remsen was not mentioned.  It was likely that the elderly dowager was not there.  Two months later, on February 16, 1920, Margaret Delprat Remsen died.  Her funeral was held at Grace Church three days later.

May Remsen immediately left the mansion.  On April 23, The New York Times reported, "No. 3 East Eightieth Street was sold a few days ago to Miss Brice."  "Miss Brice" was Helen Olivia Brice, the 49-year-old daughter of Calvin S. and Olivia Meily Brice.  

Helen was presented to Queen Victoria in 1896.  The Evening Telegram said she, "is known equally as well in European society as in this country."  Like May Remsen, she would never marry.  The newspaper explained, "while her engagement to several scions of nobility has been rumored she has just as often made emphatic denials and is still single."

Helen would not immediately move into the mansion.  There would be decorating to do and the addition of a rooftop level unseen from the street.  And during the upcoming summer social season she would occupy her Newport residence, The Bluffs.  Then, on October 29, 1920, the New York Herald reported, "Miss Helen O. Brice, whose home since her youth was at 693 Fifth avenue, has moved into her new home at 3 East Eightieth street."

John Singer Sargent painted Helen's portrait in 1907.  (private collection)

Five months after moving in, Helen, like May Remsen had done, took charge of handling a fire in the mansion.  On March 13, 1921, The Evening Telegram titled an article, "Society Girl Directs Fight Upon Flames."  The report opened by saying:

While flames raged at the bottom of an elevator shaft and with clouds of smoke choking her, Miss Helen O. Brice, millionaire daughter of the late United States Senator Calvin S. Brice, organized a bucket brigade of her six servants in her home at No. 3 East Eightieth street today and fought the flames with sand until the arrival of the firemen.

The newspaper said that Helen was preparing to go to church when she heard the cries of "Fire!"  She found her servants pouring buckets of water on the flames and told them that "sand was the only thing with which the flames would be extinguished."  The Evening Telegram reported, "The servants were sent to the rear yard where three of them began digging up the dirt while three others carried the pails and buckets back into the house."  The article said that despite the heat and smoke, Helen stood at the door of the elevator shaft and directed the operations.

As May Remsen had done, Helen sent a servant to "sound the fire alarm."  When firefighters arrived, she was still on the scene, "directing her servants in fighting the flames."  The fire was extinguished and, while it was confined to the elevator shaft, fire officials said that the smoke, "perhaps did considerable damage to the furnishings in the house, which the firemen described as being magnificent."

Helen Olivia Brice died at the age of 79 in 1950.  She had sold 3 East 80th Street on October 18 the previous year.  The following day, The New York Times reported, "Plans for converting the five-story private dwelling at 3 East Eightieth Street, near Fifth Avenue, into small apartments were announced yesterday."

The renovations resulted in two doctors' offices on the first floor, three apartments each on the second through fifth floors, and one in the top level.  Over the subsequent decades, the ground floor spaces saw a succession of physicians, therapists, and one gallery, the Wender, which was here in the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

A renovation completed in 2000 created two triplex apartments.

photographs by the author